Search Results

Preparations are being made for the Sixth International Conference on Adult Education (CONFINTEA VI), 'Living and learning for a viable future - the power of adult learning', to be held in Brazil in 2009. As part of these preparations, member states are requested to prepare a national report on the developments in adult learning and education since 1997 (CONFINTEA V), on the current state of the art and future challenges of adult learning and education. These reports will constitute a major input for the Brazil conference, help to prepare a regional synthesis for the regional preparatory conferences and supply critical data for a Global Report on Adult Learning and Education (GRALE).

In the 1990s in Mongolia, when the country changed its social system, the non-formal education system began to take a place beside the formal education system. Due to the transition to free market economy, and privatisation in all sectors, unemployment and school dropouts were new social phenomena that the formal education system was unable to serve effectively, demonstrating a need for a more flexible educational structure. Government made a commitment to support civil society initiatives towards provision of compulsory education for school dropouts and adults who had no opportunity to study at school while continuing their employment. Education and training are logically linked to employment and poverty. Legacies of the socialist system are high levels of adult literacy and educational attainment. The report suggests that, although ground was lost during the early years of the economic transition, levels of education and literacy have now reached new highs. However, considerable differences exist in rates of enrolment and completion according to geographical area and household income, with gaps between rural and urban areas, remote areas and the capital, and rich and poor. The main challenges and future perspectives for the development of policies and practices in adult education and adult learning are as follows: to set up a suitable legal environment to support adult learning and continuing education; to broaden understandings of the pedagogy and psychology of adult learning; to prepare adult educators in pedagogical institutions; to improve linkages between formal and non-formal education; to increase budget allocation and support for adult learning; to set up a database of short term training courses, foreign language courses and professionally oriented training courses. Show less